HackHub, an SFU Innovates start-up based out of the VentureLabs® accelerator program, is hosting EduHacks 2017, a 24-hour education hackathon, at the Vancouver Convention Centre September 30th – October 1st.

Five hundred students from 39 North American universities will form teams to develop solutions that explore challenges such as homework management, cross cultural educational platforms, the intersection of gaming and education and personalized learning through artificial intelligence.

The winning team will receive a $10,000 cash prize with an additional $10,000 in services from such sponsors as Adobe, Launch Academy, VentureLabs® and Digital Ocean. These services will help the team develop its idea into a potential commercial venture.

Teams will be utilizing technologies in virtual reality, Internet of Things, big data, artificial intelligence, and robotics, as tools in their arsenal to help create their solutions from scratch. These technologies will all be made available for media to demo at the onsite Device Lab.

SFU Innovates was established to address Canada’s innovation gap. The university-wide strategy builds on our dynamic culture and strengthens SFU’s commitment to innovation and entrepreneurship. Based on SFU's vision to be Canada’s engaged university, SFU Innovates helps students and researchers mobilize their ideas for positive social and economic impact.

500 students from 39 universities across Canada and the U.S. will participate in the 24-hour hackathon from 1 p.m. on September 30th to 1 p.m. on October 1st

Students from participating post-secondary institutions include: SFU, Boston University, University of Washington, University of Waterloo, University of Toronto, University of British Columbia, British Columbia Institute of Technology.

Device Lab features high-tech gadgets like virtual reality headsets, robotics kits, and other hardware devices that can used for demos

Hip-hop dance class with 500 participants on September 30th from 10:00pm to 10:30pm

Teams will showcase their project demos on October 1st from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

There will be an opportunity to take photos, shoot b-roll and interview students throughout the event. In addition, SFU entrepreneurship director Sarah Lubik will be available on October 1st to discuss what is needed for innovation to flourish in Canada, her experiences in teaching entrepreneurship as well as commercializing science and technology.

ABOUT HACKHUB:

HackHub is an experiential recruiting platform that connects the market’s most qualified technical talents with top employers through stimulating hackathon events. In its first inaugural year, the HackHub.com platform already has more than 3,000 users across the globe and more than 50 industry partners.

ABOUT SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY:

As Canada's engaged university, SFU is defined by its dynamic integration of innovative education, cutting-edge research and far-reaching community engagement. SFU was founded more than 50 years ago with a mission to be a different kind of university—to bring an interdisciplinary approach to learning, embrace bold initiatives, and engage with communities near and far. Today, SFU is Canada’s leading comprehensive research university and is ranked one of the top universities in the world. With campuses in British Columbia’s three largest cities – Vancouver, Burnaby and Surrey – SFU has eight faculties, delivers almost 150 programs to over 35,000 students, and boasts more than 145,000 alumni in 130 countries around the world.